I have some kind of Leaf disease, need advise

kbaumanOctober 8, 2007

Hi,

I have some kind of leaf problem.. Started on Pink Singapore, now has spread to the plant next to it.. singapore started out with a reddish purple margin around the edges of the lower leaves..thought just cool weather or ... did not pay much attention. my Neighbor tonight noticed it had spread up ward on most of the leaves, now spots on the back.. spread to another plant. I have cut and removed the leaves. what do I have? do I spray ? or...

is some red purple, some brown..edges now are little crispy. here are 3 pictures.

It looks like some sort of black/leaf spot fungus. I'd remove the affected foliage and treat with a fungicide. Make sure you dispose of the foliage in a sealed bag and not in your compost pile. Remove any fallen leaves and dispose of those also.
Karyn

Hi Karyn,
that surprised me, been so warm here, thought that came in damp conditions..swift. the singapore has had those purple margins around it for awhile. I don't know the habit of that one, so thought burnt or ?

Now question. I have cut off all the spotted leaves on both plants. Do I have to spray? or think cause we are warm now heat might kill it? if it does not come on anymore leaves? fungicide is tough on plants. If I have to spray, will. Glad these two were on the patio, not with all my plants.
Karen B

It looks very similar to a fungus that recently infected one of my mandevillas. We're still hot during the daytime but have had cool humid nights. I didn't use a fungicide but did chop back my entire plant and removed the soil. I don't know if you'd want to go through all of that and am not positive that's what you have but it does look like it. If that's what it turns out to be a fungicide would probably be easier then mutilating and repotting your plant like I did. lol
Karyn

Hi Karyn,
thanks for the help. I did take your advise and sprayed them both today, and have isolated them. I have a 3 n one fungicide..Will spray them a few times. Actually the pink singapore without the spotted leaves looks just fine. has new growth, will see what happens with it if more spots appear. but the other plant I got at mainly seconds, think kaulda wilder, is just peppered. Looks like most of its leaves I have had to remove, shame. will keep watch on them. That is I thought more of a rose disease.

See one plant not far from them, has some red spots, but will leave it alone, is my big gardena in full bloom. Don't want to mess with it. Took off some leaves. Our weather is getting odd. I am tempted to take a large cutting off of this one, cause can't buy it anymore. It has bloomed all summer. Afraid of another freeze this fall.
Karen B.

Hi Sue,
I use a 3 in one spray by schultz. A fungcide, takes care of most everything. Yes, I think it does have the neem oil in it. After a couple sprays, it a heavy shine. It will kill all the leaves after awhile. thats why I hated to use it, but do on occasion, depending on the problem.
karen

hello, Karen, I use about 1/2 teaspoon of pure neem oil and a couple of large drops of dishwashing soap in a liter of filtered water in a shake bottle - i spray everything with it - even the flowers & buds on my gardenia (gardenia is blooming & new buds daily) as needed with no adverse effect. I even sprayed the adenium seeds I started few days ago with no problems; some of them have sprouted with the tiniest of leaves... sprayed that too.

Hi Sue,
your mix of neem oil and soap is probably a softer mix than what I am using. but I have used this 3 and one schultz product for years. It covers the rust, black leaf and bugs..other problems. It is a 14 day spray cycle. I will have to do it, cause will never be able to introduce the plants back in my collection, afraid it might spread. I appreciate the info..hope no more problems.

I had the singapore in a can, sitting in a pretty pot. Obviously it stayed too wet doing this. So learned a lesson. the other one was next to it..bummer.

hello, Karen, good luck. I have all the schultz products too. I use their potting soil on my other plants. and all their different kinds of fertilizer. I just like to experiment with different products and I guess right now it is neem oil so I am using it for everything. it is a good thing that, with plumies, they don't need leaves in the winter (haha). I think that is what I like about them the most (aside from the flowers).
sue

Hi Janet,
I water in the afternoon, after the sun moves to the west. My plants are in the east, morning sun. Pink singapore was in a pot, and set in a pretty pot on my patio, feel it kept too wet. I do check my plants before I water with a moisture meter, but this one slipped by me. We are still in the low 60's, 70's, is still ok to water. But the nights are dipping so will have to watch that. Where you live is probably 10 degrees cooler than where I live. But the weather is peculiar now..hope stays even. Just will keep spraying until the 14 days is over. Will lose the leaves, hope they start again.
Karen B.

hi, malibu, it is usually sold at garden or orchid shows. you can also buy it directly from manufacturers online or thru ebay. i googled neem oil and rec'd a list of places to buy and info on it. because i don't know where you are, you may do the same and find the place most convenient for you. i am very happy with the results i am getting so far with it.

Neem oil can be bought everywhere, WalMart, HD, Lws,even grocery store. Safer products makes at least one, and you will find more around the products for plant disease. My only concern with Neem is that because it is an oil, used on plants in full sun, following dilution directions, my experience is that it seemed to burn stems & branches. I maybe missing something obvious but I do read directions thoroughly. Comments are appreciated. Over in Organic Gardening, they use baking soda and water to deal with fungal diseases. You may want to look this up on Ask the Experts.

Look for main ingredient on the Bayer product. If it is a 3 in one product, it may well be Neem based as Neem is a fungicide, insecticide & plant disease corrector. Your Bayer product could also be chemically based. Check the label, and if it's chemically based, post again w/the name of the chemical, someone will be able to guide you from there.

Here in the Hi Desert our evenings for the last few weeks have been quite humid or heavy. We actually got some rain a couple of nights ago, I think - isn't it the stuff that looks like water and falls vertically from the sky? LOL Now we are supposed to be a very dry climate & we are during our hot season but at this point I see rust, black spot trying to develop on roses & shrubs. I always have to be on the look out so fungus & diseases don't get started. Yes we are having beautiful weather, warm days, cool nights but the air is heavy w/moisture at dark. I brought my Plummer in a couple of weeks ago when a freak storm w/very unsteady air was supposed to hit and possibly cause havoc. I have not put it back outside as we have had lots of cloud cover and some very cold nights but specifically since the night time air is so heavy, I thought it best to bring it in. It sits in full sun all day from the windows and the inside temps stay at the low 70's. I am going to be extra cautious this fall & winter as last yrs low temps really took a toll on my yard. Even my daughter in the Las Vegas area lost several Queen Palms and replaced them w/trees able to take the heat & cold, crumby soil, & low water use. Since the weather has been so goofy everywhere, I feel as though as gardeners, we also must be weather experts checking for all facits of the weather year round. We have a couple of small weather stations and a barometer glass that we check each day, more for the fun of watching the weather than because of gardening but it does tend to alert you to the changes. Humidity levels at night are most likely causing the leaf problems.

Hi Eureka.
thats exactly it.. I never thought of the cool nights that are heavy with humidity.. Then warms up some during the day. I have never had bug problems on plumeria, until now.
Got the two under control with black spot.

Now on two plants have think mealy bugs. under the leaves, Can scrape them off with your finger nail, but leaves are turning funny with red spots. that is a first for me on plumeria, no rust. Yes we got the rain too.

I am most concerened with one plant still in bloom, gardena, red white as Bill calls it. Still blooming, older plant, but the leaves look bad. I am going to remove the bad leaves, sprayed once. Other one, Kaulda Wilder, removed the bad leaves and sprayed. concerns me, mealy bugs will go through my plants.
Sorry you are having the problems too.
Karen b.

Karen glad to hear the humidity factor clicked in for you. I became very aware of the humidity/heaviness of night air way back in 1976 as my son had horrible croup as a baby. When the heavier air comes along in the evening, kids tend to start coughing more, their noses start running, suddenly they are worse with a cold than they were all day. The colder, heavy humid air loosens up the airways and sinus'. That's why when my son would start crouping in the middle of the night, I'd take him outside, bundled up in blankets and we would sit outside for half an hour or so until he could brethe easier. It's stuff like that, that you never forget due to the circumstances. Glad I could share.

Hi Eureka,
Oh my gosh.. what you described about your son.. My son had allergy asthma, would go into terrible asthma attacks, could not breathe. We took him to the emergency..by the time he got there was not as bad. Then realized, driving around with the windows open..his attacks lessened and he could breathe...was probably 3 to 5 years old..he did finally have a liquid medication to help open his tubes..

as a baby, big time croup..wish I would have knowing that one. Is now 39, no problems now.

Hi,
How nice I finally found this website. I just started planting plumeria. Mine seem to be having the problem described by kbauman but the photos attached by kbauman are no longer can be found. Can anyone help to share the photos so that I can decide if I should execute the solution/cure mentioned in the thread?

Sharing on the problem I faced with my plumeria. I bought a new plumeria. It came with leaves having Dark red circular dots at the top and bottom of the leaves. The plants seems to continue to grow though. I applied generic fungicide but the dots remains. Few new leaves grew. Seem OK initially but they are no having a few of those dots now. They are not rust and sun burn that I have seens from other sharing.

Hi There,
did you by chance get a dwarf pink singapore? They are bad to get this black spot..Mine has it, I just leave it alone. Or a plant from Florida that is damp and humid?

What really causes it, I do not know, was discussed on the board in 2007, nothing worked. I am not in damp conditions, I am in dry and no rain..so not what conditions usually are..damp.. fungacides don't seem to help, or sun. I have one now that the plant was near my singapore and caught the fungus. You can try spraying but does not seem to work..take off the worst leaves that are ugly, cut them off a inch or so..they fall off naturally. Keep it away from other plants. Pink singapore has the virus again, putting out a new inflo, very healthy leaves, I just have it alone at the end of my patio.. You have to keep these plants away from other ones..I feel it transfers.
Karen B.

I have 2 plants that a client gave me back in May...she chopped off cuttings from her HUGE plant. They have been doing great...but noticed the red spots that some of you have mentioned. They are all over both plants. We live in Tampa...very wet humid weather. I didn't get blooms this year, but I guess from what I'm reading, sometimes you have to wait when starting a new plant from a cutting. I just don't want my plants to dye!! The leaves used to look so healthy and now they look a bit dry, and the spots concern me. I also noticed that 1 or 2 leaves are being eaten up....so I guess I have pests too. Any advise?

Kyle, I'm not sure what that is. Hopefully someone else will be along to give you a diagnosis.

Plumies in FL are usually prone to rust, but that's not what you have. However, I would not be too concerned as it's pretty isolated and your tips look healthy. This time of year plumie leaves start to spot and yellow and drop off.

Hi KyleLynn,
that is a fungal desease. You need to cut off the decease leafs and spray a Bayer 3-in-one systemic liquid. It contains a systemic fingicide that will prevent new leafs from getting these spots. It will not cure existing leafs with these spots; that is we you need to cut them off. Certain varieties like Celadine and Hurricane are real bad about getting these spots.

Jandey,
I think that you are right. I went out and really felt it and looked at it and the black is very brittle. It has been very hot here and the plants are on concrete and are in full sun. So I think that this could be the problem. I will take a picture and post it just to make sure.